Scientific Method —

SpaceX Dragon takes flight

The spacecraft soared into the pre-dawn sky this morning, on its way to the ISS.

After fixing a check valve that caused an abort for the Falcon 9/Dragon launch on Saturday morning, SpaceX successfully launched the combination at 3:44 am Eastern Time today. SpaceX employees were heard cheering on the webcast as Dragon's solar panels deployed, and the spacecraft is now orbiting the Earth on its second mission. Should all go well, Dragon will attempt to become the first commercially developed spacecraft to berth with the International Space Station.

As the GNC door which covers the grapple fixture deployed, SpaceX's Elon Musk tweeted, "Dragon spaceship opens the navigation pod bay door without hesitation. So much nicer than HAL9000 #DragonLaunch."

The second flight of the Dragon spacecraft has been delayed a few times now, sometimes to fix teething pains and sometimes to accommodate range scheduling. Saturday's launch was aborted with a half second to go; as the engines came up, an overpressure sensor revealed the faulty check valve. This morning's launch went very smoothly.

Falcon 9 is significantly cheaper than its competition, allowing SpaceX to be the first American space launch company to go into mass production of launchers other than ICBMs. The reusable Dragon is also significantly cheaper than European, Russian or Chinese spacecraft. A projected loosening of export controls that adversely affect American launchers will soon help SpaceX go after more international payloads with the Falcon 9, while the Dragon will help SpaceX offer new kinds of services (and service to commercial space stations) at far lower prices than the normal cost for access to space.

The cargo version of the Dragon is very different from the manned version expected to begin launching humans to orbit in a few years, but it is similar enough to come up in every argument over NASA's efforts to turn the responsibility for Low-Earth Orbit over to commercial players.

We at Ars will be tracking this mission as it attempts to complete the demonstrations and prove that Dragon can berth with the ISS. You can watch a webcast of the launch here.

Promoted Comments

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Keep your eyes fixed on the guages, sonand never mind them shakesLet it all hang out, 'cause we got a run to make!Folks are hungry on the station and our hold is full of rationsAnd we'll get 'em up, no matter what it takes!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

U.L.A. will try to ground usThat crusty old cartelAnd they won't stop 'till we bid them farewellSo you got to build 'em, you got to try 'emYou got to keep those rockets flyin'Just set that throttle wide and give it hell!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!I'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Keep your eyes fixed on the guages, sonand never mind them shakesLet it all hang out, 'cause we got a run to make!Folks are hungry on the station and our hold is full of rationsAnd we'll get 'em up, no matter what it takes!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

U.L.A. will try to ground usThat crusty old cartelAnd they won't stop 'till we bid them farewellSo you got to build 'em, you got to try 'emYou got to keep those rockets flyin'Just set that throttle wide and give it hell!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!I'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Keep your eyes fixed on the guages, sonand never mind them shakesLet it all hang out, 'cause we got a run to make!Folks are hungry on the station and our hold is full of rationsAnd we'll get 'em up, no matter what it takes!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

U.L.A. will try to ground usThat crusty old cartelAnd they won't stop 'till we bid them farewellSo you got to build 'em, you got to try 'emYou got to keep those rockets flyin'Just set that throttle wide and give it hell!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!I'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be done.......

that was awesome!!

Yeah, I was Googleing that to see if I could find that before asking if that was original. Which is is pusher robot? If original that is the best post I've read in almost ever. If not, +1 internets anyway.

Edit: While I understand it's a rewrite of 'East bound and down' I was wondering if it was an original rewrite or just reposted. Turns out it's an original rewrite. This should be forwarded to SpaceX and set to music for I can totally hear that being played in the background at mission control during the launch.

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Keep your eyes fixed on the guages, sonand never mind them shakesLet it all hang out, 'cause we got a run to make!Folks are hungry on the station and our hold is full of rationsAnd we'll get 'em up, no matter what it takes!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

U.L.A. will try to ground usThat crusty old cartelAnd they won't stop 'till we bid them farewellSo you got to build 'em, you got to try 'emYou got to keep those rockets flyin'Just set that throttle wide and give it hell!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!I'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

I have a question for those who watched the launch. I am watching it via the replayed webcast. While stage 2 is burning, there is a silhouette of what appears to be maybe the nozzle of a lateral thruster or something. Every 10-15 seconds, it appears to just flick back and forth a bit. It doesn't appear to be a wind resistance thing (being space and all), nor does it appear rhythmic enough to be a vibration thing, I just can't figure out what it is I am looking at and why it appears to move periodically.

Not sure of the specifics of Delta II production, but I think the point was that this is the first dedicated "company" (read: not government) to mass-produce space launch vehicles, apart from ICBM vehicles.

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be done.......

that was awesome!!

Yeah, I was Googleing that to see if I could find that before asking if that was original. Which is is pusher robot? If original that is the best post I've read in almost ever. If not, +1 internets anyway.

I can see it being bittersweet for NASA, but I think this could be a good thing for the US. The fact that it's a US company and still cheaper than it's international competition is a great thing.

Commercial spaceflight is long overdue. This simple sort of "milk run" is something that private enterprise should be able to handle by now. Any technology needs to escape from government control before it is ever going to reach it's full potential.

Imagine if only government agencies could build and operate cars or planes.

I have a question for those who watched the launch. I am watching it via the replayed webcast. While stage 2 is burning, there is a silhouette of what appears to be maybe the nozzle of a lateral thruster or something. Every 10-15 seconds, it appears to just flick back and forth a bit. It doesn't appear to be a wind resistance thing (being space and all), nor does it appear rhythmic enough to be a vibration thing, I just can't figure out what it is I am looking at and why it appears to move periodically.

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

I hope that is a reference to relaxing any restrictions on the export of services, meaning that this private company will be able to offer their launch capabilities to other countries without their own space program. Not necessarily that they'll be exporting parts (which would probably be a poor business decision for SpaceX anyways, after their investment up to this point). To me, that's probably the most impactful part of this whole thing. Allowing those countries without adequate launch capability to still participate in the exploration and study of space. REALLY cool stuff!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be done.......

that was awesome!!

Yeah, I was Googleing that to see if I could find that before asking if that was original. Which is is pusher robot? If original that is the best post I've read in almost ever. If not, +1 internets anyway.

Seems like a "rewrite" of the old Convoy song.

EDIT: It reminds me of that song, rather.

It's a rewrite of "Eastbound and Down" from Smokey and the Bandit by Jerry Reed. It was in my head because I always listen to it when I get ready to drive to Indianapolis for the 500.

Pity I missed this one; I probably won't have another chance to see something like it as easily because I'm moving away from the Space Coast. Alas, launch windows care nothing for us 9:00-5:00 working stiffs.

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be done.......

that was awesome!!

Yeah, I was Googleing that to see if I could find that before asking if that was original. Which is is pusher robot? If original that is the best post I've read in almost ever. If not, +1 internets anyway.

Seems like a "rewrite" of the old Convoy song.

EDIT: It reminds me of that song, rather.

It's a rewrite of "Eastbound and Down" from Smokey and the Bandit by Jerry Reed. It was in my head because I always listen to it when I get ready to drive to Indianapolis for the 500.

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

Keep your eyes fixed on the guages, sonand never mind them shakesLet it all hang out, 'cause we got a run to make!Folks are hungry on the station and our hold is full of rationsAnd we'll get 'em up, no matter what it takes!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

U.L.A. will try to ground usThat crusty old cartelAnd they won't stop 'till we bid them farewellSo you got to build 'em, you got to try 'emYou got to keep those rockets flyin'Just set that throttle wide and give it hell!

Space-bound and down, loaded up and truckingWe gonna do what they say can't be doneWe've got a long way to go, and a short time to get thereI'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!I'm space-bound, just watch ol' Falcon run!

I have a question for those who watched the launch. I am watching it via the replayed webcast. While stage 2 is burning, there is a silhouette of what appears to be maybe the nozzle of a lateral thruster or something. Every 10-15 seconds, it appears to just flick back and forth a bit. It doesn't appear to be a wind resistance thing (being space and all), nor does it appear rhythmic enough to be a vibration thing, I just can't figure out what it is I am looking at and why it appears to move periodically.

Could be diagnostics perhaps or some form of stabilization.

roll control by changing the turbopump exhaust flow (I think)...

Also totally stoked for SpaceX - and slightly jealous, it'd be so cool to have been one of the engineers on that system ... Congratulations.

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

I hope that is a reference to relaxing any restrictions on the export of services, meaning that this private company will be able to offer their launch capabilities to other countries without their own space program. Not necessarily that they'll be exporting parts (which would probably be a poor business decision for SpaceX anyways, after their investment up to this point). To me, that's probably the most impactful part of this whole thing. Allowing those countries without adequate launch capability to still participate in the exploration and study of space. REALLY cool stuff!

Edit: Spelling

The US _already_ exports the vast majority of its military hardware and equipment, though in the case of aircraft the advanced avionics are generally stripped out. This is nothing new, and has been taking place for something like a century. Hell, Iraq was shooting us with our own weapons, in the first gulf war.

PBOM wrote:

I wonder if they'll start offering services where they can freeze your head after you die and launch it into orbit so that it can orbit the planet like Unicron's head in Transformers...

I have a question for those who watched the launch. I am watching it via the replayed webcast. While stage 2 is burning, there is a silhouette of what appears to be maybe the nozzle of a lateral thruster or something. Every 10-15 seconds, it appears to just flick back and forth a bit. It doesn't appear to be a wind resistance thing (being space and all), nor does it appear rhythmic enough to be a vibration thing, I just can't figure out what it is I am looking at and why it appears to move periodically.

Could be diagnostics perhaps or some form of stabilization.

roll control by changing the turbopump exhaust flow (I think)...

Or they could have just been reversing the polarity of the neutron flow.

I have a question for those who watched the launch. I am watching it via the replayed webcast. While stage 2 is burning, there is a silhouette of what appears to be maybe the nozzle of a lateral thruster or something. Every 10-15 seconds, it appears to just flick back and forth a bit. It doesn't appear to be a wind resistance thing (being space and all), nor does it appear rhythmic enough to be a vibration thing, I just can't figure out what it is I am looking at and why it appears to move periodically.

I've always assumed it's for roll control, although I could be wrong.

Fantastic launch anyway. Followed it on Twitter this morning and looking forward to watching it properly when I get back from work!

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

I hope that is a reference to relaxing any restrictions on the export of services, meaning that this private company will be able to offer their launch capabilities to other countries without their own space program. Not necessarily that they'll be exporting parts (which would probably be a poor business decision for SpaceX anyways, after their investment up to this point). To me, that's probably the most impactful part of this whole thing. Allowing those countries without adequate launch capability to still participate in the exploration and study of space. REALLY cool stuff!

Edit: Spelling

The US _already_ exports the vast majority of its military hardware and equipment, though in the case of aircraft the advanced avionics are generally stripped out. This is nothing new, and has been taking place for something like a century. Hell, Iraq was shooting us with our own weapons, in the first gulf war.

PBOM wrote:

I wonder if they'll start offering services where they can freeze your head after you die and launch it into orbit so that it can orbit the planet like Unicron's head in Transformers...

Because what we need is _more_ garbage floating around in orbit >_<

First, thanks for the obnoxious picture. You made your point. Secondly, when we talk about the US versus SpaceX, you're talking about two completely different classes of organizations. The US military is a government entity, and is basically free to do whatever it wants and sell to whoever it wants within the confines of the rules it sets for itself (and, to a lesser extent the rules set by the international community, for fear of reprisal). A company like SpaceX is a private enterprise that is not affiliated with the US government. There are export rules and restrictions about what can and cannot be sold/provided to foreign governments. Yes, I understand that weapons and weapon systems have been sold to foreign interests. Those have, however, been done with the blessing of the US government.

I don't know for a fact that there is any sort of restriction on the offering of goods and services to foreign governments in the space sector, but the basic idea of what is allowed by government versus private industry is still valid. To further reiterate my point, if SpaceX can maintain control of its technology, and is allowed to simply sell the launch capability that it has, that would be far more valuable than a one-time payout to the Chinese for a rocket design. Many governments probably wouldn't want to take the time or money to create a space force. That's where this entreprenurial US corporation comes in.

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

I hope that is a reference to relaxing any restrictions on the export of services, meaning that this private company will be able to offer their launch capabilities to other countries without their own space program. Not necessarily that they'll be exporting parts (which would probably be a poor business decision for SpaceX anyways, after their investment up to this point). To me, that's probably the most impactful part of this whole thing. Allowing those countries without adequate launch capability to still participate in the exploration and study of space. REALLY cool stuff!

Edit: Spelling

The US _already_ exports the vast majority of its military hardware and equipment, though in the case of aircraft the advanced avionics are generally stripped out. This is nothing new, and has been taking place for something like a century. Hell, Iraq was shooting us with our own weapons, in the first gulf war.

PBOM wrote:

I wonder if they'll start offering services where they can freeze your head after you die and launch it into orbit so that it can orbit the planet like Unicron's head in Transformers...

Because what we need is _more_ garbage floating around in orbit >_<

First, thanks for the obnoxious picture. You made your point. Secondly, when we talk about the US versus SpaceX, you're talking about two completely different classes of organizations. The US military is a government entity, and is basically free to do whatever it wants and sell to whoever it wants within the confines of the rules it sets for itself (and, to a lesser extent the rules set by the international community, for fear of reprisal). A company like SpaceX is a private enterprise that is not affiliated with the US government. There are export rules and restrictions about what can and cannot be sold/provided to foreign governments. Yes, I understand that weapons and weapon systems have been sold to foreign interests. Those have, however, been done with the blessing of the US government.

I don't know for a fact that there is any sort of restriction on the offering of goods and services to foreign governments in the space sector, but the basic idea of what is allowed by government versus private industry is still valid. To further reiterate my point, if SpaceX can maintain control of its technology, and is allowed to simply sell the launch capability that it has, that would be far more valuable than a one-time payout to the Chinese for a rocket design. Many governments probably wouldn't want to take the time or money to create a space force. That's where this entreprenurial US corporation comes in.

1) They still haven't fixed the forums, so the only way to get here is A) finding it the slow, hard way, which is a PITA, or B) waiting for a reply email to click on.

2) The image was properly resized on the in-line forums it forced me into when I posted it.

3) I fixed it immediately after getting a reply notification, and seeing it on the real forums; check the timestamp on my edit

Now to your actual post. I'm not seeing your point. So because the government is the government, and makes its own rules, it can do what it wants, but because SpaceX is a private company it cannot do what the government says it's changing the laws to say they can do? The government is GIVING its blessing, by changing the laws (whether you agree with it or not is another matter, and immaterial to the one at hand). Reread what you posted, then reread what I've just said, and tell me if you still think your assertion or argument is even remotely logical.

I'm incredibly psyched. WOW! So cool, major congratulations for the SpaceX engineering team are in order.

The only thing that concerned me was the comment about relaxing export controls. I'm all for encouraging international customers to buy rides on SpaceX hardware, but I'd be a bit more leery of allowing export of SpaceX tech. Aside from the obvious military uses, why should we let our competitors clone American rocket tech the way they've done so many other industries?

I imagine SpaceX will have patented anything really sensitive (or at least they will before starting up exports). Besides that, even assuming that those competitors get a complete set of plans for a Falcon, it's going to take them a good long while to actually build one, let alone test it and launch it. In the meantime, SpaceX are busy improving their current launchers and building new ones.

And you never know - those competitors may come up with improvements of their own which SpaceX can pick up on.